produce their like without the mixture of both their Seeds so in like manner our Male Sol and his Female Luna cannot conceive nor bring forth any Generation without their Seed and Sperm From whence our Philosophers have gathered That there is a third thing necessary to wit the Animate Seed both of the Male and Female of the Chymists without which they judged their whole work vain and ridiculous The Sperm hereof is Mercury which by a natural Conjunction of both bodies of Sol and Luna receiveth and uniteth their Nature into himself Then at length and not before is the matter apt for the congressive Work and Generation by the Masculine and Feminine force and vertue This hath moved our Philosophers to say That this Mercury is composed of Body Soul and Spirit and to assume unto it self the nature and propriety of all Elements Wherefore they have asserted their Stone to be an Animal which also they called their Adam who beareth his occult and invisible Eve in his own body from which moment they are united by the power of the Great Maker of all things For which cause it may worthily be said That the Mercury of the Philosophers is nothing else but an abstruse composed Mercury and not that vulgar Mercury Therefore they have wisely said That there is in Mercury whatsoever the wise men do seek after Almadir the Philosopher saith We extract our Mercury out of one perfect Body with two perfect natural and incorporate conditions This extrinsecally produceth his perfection whereby he resisteth the force of the fire and by this his perfection is extrinsecally and intrinsecally defended from all imperfections By this place of the acute Philosopher the matter of the Stone is understood to be Adamical the Microcosmical Garment the Homogeneous and united matter of the Philosophers These Sayings of the Philosophers which before we have made mention of are meerly Golden and to be had alwayes in great esteem because they contain in them nothing superfluous nothing invalid Briefly therefore The matter of the Philosophers Stone is nothing else but a fiery and perfect Mercury extracted by Nature and Art that is artificially prepared and is the true Hermaphrodite Adam and Microcosme This the wisest of Philosophers Mercurius Trismegistus asserting calleth the Stone an Orphan Therefore our Mercury is he which contains in himself the perfections power and vertue of Sol and runneth through the Houses of all the Planets and in his Regeneration acquireth the vertue of the superiors and inferiors and by the Matrimony thereof he appeareth cloathed in their candor and beauty The Arabians Greeks Persians and Egyptians have kept these Mysteries secret and abstruse denoting them by certain occult Characters and Figures Some have called this The Secret of the Philosophers and Pythagoras The Philosophers Stone Whosoever have attained to the knowledge hereof have adumbrated and shadowed the same with various enigmatical Figures and deceitful Similitues and Comparisons and feigned Words that the Matter thereof might remain occult to Posterity so that little or no Knowledge thereof might be found out But nevertheless some have sufficiently detected this matter and the knowledge thereof with its preparation to the ingenious but notwithstanding in Parables and under Enigmatical Words and Figures that they might expel the unworthy from attaining to such a mystery of Art and Nature Nevertheless some few and such who are apt to apprehend this Art have sought out the perpetual Balsome of Nature and the true Stone but with exceeding great labour and intricate difficulty which every where occurreth in the investigation hereof And hence it appears why the sluggish and slothful mindes never attain to this work CHAP. VII Of the Preparation of the Spagyrick Matter in general NAture first requireth of the Artist that the Philosophical Adam be brought into a Mercurial substance and at length to be regenerated into the Oriental Sol and Lunary Stone Moreover it s to be noted That those common Preparations of Geber Albertus Magnus Thomas Aquinas Rupecissa Polydor and the like are nothing else but particular Solutions Sublimations Calcinations least of all pertaining to our universal Secret which wanteth onely the most secret Fire of the Philosophers The Fire therefore and Azor are sufficient for thee The Philosophers make mention of other Preparations as Putrefaction Distillation Sublimation Ceration Fixation c. which you are to understand onely to be certain universal Operations to compleat Nature in the said matter and not onely a working in the Philosophical Vessel with the like Fire and not with common Fire For the white and the red proceed both from one Radix without any mean it is dissolved in it self and copulated by it self made white and red black yellow by it self it despouseth it self and is conceived in it self it is decocted and infunded ascendeth and descendeth all which Operations are made by the Fire alone Yet some Philosophers have dissolved the Body of Sol by the strong essence of Wine and made it Volatile that it would ascend by an Alembick thinking this to be the true Volatile matter of the Philosophers whereas it is not although it be a secret not to be despised to reduce a perfect Metallick Body into a Volatile and spiritual substance yet they erre in the separation of the Elements for they thought by this way to separate Gold into a subtil spiritual and elemental vertue and after their separation by Circulation and Rectification again to copulate them into one but in vain For although one Metal may be separated from another in some sort nevertheless every Metal thus separated may be separated again into another which parts afterwards by a Pellicanical Circulation or Distillation can in no wise copulate into one but will alwayes remain a certain Volatile Matter and Aurum Potabile as they call it The cause why these can never attain to their intentions is this Because by this way Nature will not be extracted nor separated with humane dis-junctions as by terrene Glasses and Instruments That onely hath known its Operations and the weight of the Elements whose Separations Rectifications and Copulations are executed without the help of any Operator or Manual Artifice whilst the matter is contained in the secret Fire and in the occult Vessel This is the Opinion of the Philosophers That when they have placed this matter into their secret Fire it is cherished round about with this Philosophical hear that beginning to transite into corruption it waxeth black This Operation they call Putrefaction And this Blackness The Head of the Crow They call the ascending and descending of this matter their Distillation Ascension and Descension they call Exsiccation Coagulation and Dealbation Calcination And because by a continual hear the matter is made soft and fluid they make mention of Ceration But when it ceaseth to ascend and remaineth liquid in the bottom they call it Fixation After this manner therefore are the Apellations of the Philosophical Operations to be understood and
no otherwise Thus having declared the Instruments Matter and Ferment we proceed in order to the Weights without observation whereof our Work is in vain CHAP. VIII Of the Proportion of the Matter and Form of the Spagyrick Stone THe Formal part of our birth is the Mercury of the Philosophers and the Spirit or Tincture of Sol but the living part is another material Therefore the Composition of this sacred Adamick Stone is made after the Adamick Mercury of the wise men with their Female Eve by the Matrimony and union of the one and the other Mercury on the third part Therefore the onely matter of the Philosophers consisteth of spiritual corporal and animal Mercury The corporal Mercury is the subject of Tinctures The spiritual and animal Mercuries exhibit the means of conjoyning them but in their conjunction a due proportion is to be observed For if there be taken more of one then of the other it will be suffocated as Seed sown in the Field so that it cannot live so long until it be united by the Mercury of the Philosophers and perfected in the Fire or on the contrary if it be too little there can be no Solution nor no Fruit. Wherefore see that you take as much of the one as of the other lest by your ignorance in the proportion the work be destroyed Let there be taken therefore one part of the Seed to two parts of Earth or three to four and there will be no error but the work will be brought to its desired end in this behalf so as the rest be moderated accordingly There is a double Reason why the Weight should be observed the one natural the other artificial The natural followeth the effect in the Earth by Nature and Concordancy of which Arnaldus speaks If there shall be added more or less Earth then Nature will suffer it will suffocate the Soul and no fruit nor fixation is perceived The like is to be judged of the Water if there be taken too much or little thereof it brings an inconvenient loss for the superfluity thereof makes the matter too humid and the defect or want thereof renders it too dry and too hard If the Vessel be too little the Tincture is too much pressed if too large a pale body evades if the Fire be made too vehement the matter is burnt if too remiss it hath not power of exsiccating solving and calefying the other Elements In these consists the elemental Weight but the artificial is most occult when as the Ponderations are included in the Magick Art Between the Spirit Soul and Body say the Philosophers consisteth the Weight with Sulphur as it were the Rector of the work for the Soul desireth the Sulphur and necessarily observeth it by Reason of the Weight Which understand after this manner Our matter is united with red mixed Sulphur to which is committed the third part of the Regiment until the last Degree that it maketh on the infinite Operation of the Stone and persisteth therewith together with his Fire and consisteth of an equal Weight with the matter it self in all things and by all things without any variation of any Degree of Transmutation After therefore the matter is prepared and fitted and mixed with its proportionate Weight it ought to be very well concluded and sealed up in the Philosophers Vessel and committed to their secret Fire in which the Philosophical Sun will spring up and arise and illuminate all things which expect his Light or hope can desire But because this cannot rightly be understood without a perfect knowledge in the Metals of perfect Tinctures we proceed now to speak of them CHAP. IX Of the Tinctures and Spirits of Metals and first of the Tincture of the Sun THe Tincture of the Sun obtains the supreme and principal place which is derived of subtil pure and most perfect fire Wherefore this spirit flieth not from the fire but remains therein fixed triumphing and rejoycing it is not consumed nor burnt thereby as others but rather thereby gains more lustre and splendor it is subject to no Corruption neither heat nor cold nor any other quality can bring any detriment thereunto Whereby it comes to pass that the body which it once putteth on it defends and preserves from all accidents Corruption and diseases that it may also endure the fire with him without lesion His body hath not these virtues from himself but from his spirit alone the efficient cause thereof It is certaine that the body of Sol is Mercury which can in no wise indure the fire but immediately flyes therefrom Since therefore being in gold Mercury persists constantly in the fire and flyes not there is no doubt but the fixing thereof by the spirit will impresse the same virtue in its self What gift and office therefore hath it in Mercury but that when it is freed from its own body and taken into a humane body it should work and operate its effects thereupon who will deny but that also it may preserve and keepe it safe from all Corruption diseases and accidents whatsoever and preserve the body to a long and sound life as our first parents of old The virtues and propertyes of all other Metals are not otherwise to be known but by certain and true experience and not by any other reason of a Subtile intellect for this wisdom which is conceived by opinion only is meere foolishness before God and the truth wherefore they that hope and believe therein do erre and are deceived Thus farre of the spirit and Tincture of Sol now let us see what Tincture the Moon hath The spirit of Luna lyeth in this white Tincture as the Red in Sol And it is also borne of a subtil spirit but not so perfect as that of Sol. Nevertheless in purity and constancy it farre excelleth the Tinctures of all the other subsequent Metals For burnt lead consumes it self and all other Metals with it in the fire except Sol and Luna to which it brings no detriment Seeing therefore the spirit of the Moon is of power to preserve the body which it once putteth on to wit Mercury from injury of the fire and all other accidents and render the same fixed and constant it is easily gathered from hence if it effect this in so instable and volatile a body as Mercury how much more efficacious and powerful will it operate being free from its own body and projected into a humane body will not that be also defended from many diseases and Corruptions certainly whatsoever it operates in Mercury the same it will do in a humane body and preserve the same to a long and sound life expelling all diseases which are comprehended under the power thereof according to the degree thereunto prefixed by nature Certainly by how much the more sublime subtile and perfect every Medicine is by so much the more perfectly it cureth in its kinde Wherefore ignorant are those Physitians who found their Art chiefly upon corrupt Medicines as Vegetables
which are not permanent but they go about fixed Cures with unconstant means undertaking that which is impossible for them to perform But what shall I say more unto these they have never yet learned otherwise in their Academies The Spirit of Venus is derived of a permixtion of more crass elements then the former wherefore it is inferiour and subject unto them but it is more perfect then the other Spirits and Tinctures which follow excelling them in fixation and constancie not yeelding to the fire nor so subject to be corrupted as the others subsequent and remaineth more fixed in the fire which vertue Venus hath not in her own body but from a Spirit What operation soever it hath in its Mercury the same it doth also in humane bodies according to the degree of nature for it defendeth wounds and ulcers from accidents and expelleth such diseases as are under its degree and power and disperseth the root thereof If it be mixed with any other Metals it breaketh their perfect bodies that they will not be malleable any more until they be freed from it The like effect it hath in humane bodies especially if it be taken for any Disease not destined unto its degree by nature it bringeth Contractures of the members VVherefore the Physitian ought perfectly to learn the Natures and Tinctures of Metals how they agree with the Nature of Bodies before they venture to give them lest they endanger their Patient The tincture of Mars consists of an adustible and crass permixion of the Elements having a more hard and less tractable substance then the other imperfects hardly fusible but corruptible both with Air and VVater easily subject to be consumed with rust but in hardness and driness it abounds above all other Metals as well perfect as imperfect It torments the body of man if applied to any disease other then becometh its Nature yet it wanteth not power and vertue granted to it by God and Nature in its special propriety The Spirit of Jupiter is created of a white pally substance of Fire by nature intractable with the hammer but not so much as Mars Being mixed with others it discontinueth and mixeth with them especially with Luna that it will hardly be separated herefrom The like operation it hath in all other Metals except in Saturn if it be taken contrary to its Nature to operate upon mans body it afflicts the members with cruel passions and pains and gnaweth them with such burning that they cannot exercise their natural faculties being outwardly applied to Fistula's Cancers Carbuncles and such-like which exceed not the degree of its Nature it is the best remedy expelling every evil The Spirit of Saturn is created of an obscure tenebrose and cold permixture of Elements whereby it comes to pass that it less endures the Fire then any other It mundifies the bodies of Sol and Luna and purgeth them from superfluities it afflicteth the body taken inwardly more then Tin or Iron but because it is coagulated with more cold then the other it operates not so sharply it hath an excellent faculty to heal Fistula's Cancers and such-like ulcers and many other infirmities But having performed its operation unless it depart from the body together with the disease it doth more hurt then good Wherefore let the Physitian that desires to make use hereof first know with what diseases it agrees and how it is naturally ordained for Medicine Lastly the Spirit of Mercury hath no certain determinate form but is subject to all the other as wax to the impression of a seal for it receiveth every Spirit whatsoever unto it self as when the Spirit of Sol is impressed into it it transites into Sol if Luna into Luna and so of the rest he putteth on their nature and embraceth every Metal His body may be compared to the Spirits of other Metals as the Female to the Male not by a corporal mixture but when a Spirit is educed from its Metal and after the preparation projected into Mercury then at length he exhibits his transmutation no otherwise then a dead female of Metal although it be as an untilled Field or Earth if it be macerated or vivified with the Philosophers Plough which female in this work remains fixed and uncorrupt it is united to the said corporal Spirit by the degrees of the fire into his nature and substance this with the dead body of Metal which with the crass Spirit of Mercury cannot be done And although the body of Sol exist of Mercury or Argent vive and is fixed nevertheless common Mercury not fixed or mortified never cometh to its Resurrection For the Resurrection of Metals is an immortal Regeneration and the medium whereby the tinctures are promoted to their generation Wherefore it cannot be united with dead bodies into fixation but only with extracted Spirits of the corporals before spoken of which are subject to Metals as the common Mercury is subject to all Metallick Spirits For the crass Spirit of Mercury doth in no wise generate this tincture in substance no more then a concubine legitimate issue We are to judge in like manner of the crass Spirit of Mercury so long until the metallike and corporal Spirit is made by the medium of the natural matter without this medium it is impossible to attain to any good and perfect work in these kinde of tinctures moreover if the fire be too strong it cannot generate if too remiss the same event happens CHAP. X. Of the plain Manifestation of this Art WHen thou wilt make the Heaven or Sphere of Saturn to run with life upon the Earth impose thereupon all the Planets or which you will but let there not be too much of Luna but add less thereof then of the other Permit them all to run until you see the Heaven of Saturn quite to vanish by this means all the Planets will remain of such a consistency that their ancient and corruptible bodies being dead they have put on a new perfect and incorruptible body This is the Spirit of Heaven by which the said Planets are again made corporal and living as at first Take this new body from the Life and from the Earth and this keep for this is Sol and Luna After this manner thou hast the whole Art made manifest and plain but if thereby thou dost not know or understand the same it is well for so it ought to remain not vulgarly and indifferently laid open to all Finis de Transmutatione Metallorum Of the Genealogy and Generation of Minerals CHAP. I. WHen I had diligently and accurately read the writings of the Ancients concerning the Generation of Minerals I appredended that they understood not the ultimate matter of them and by consequence much less the first Truly if the beginning of any matter may rightly be written certainly the end thereof may very fitly be declared I have therefore in the first place decreed to propose unto you the ultimate matter of all Minerals whereby you may
will force them stand before 'um And bring them up in Cavea stultorum But princely Nature from his boundless store Provides a Salve for every dang'rous sore And thus hath made our Authors happy Pen The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of good to unlearn'd men Go on good Friend to other things for we By this thy Book are able to foresee Great Paracelsus Learning Hermes Skill Shall English speak by thy ingenious Quill John Gadbury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paracelsus Paracelsus OF The TRANSMUTATION OF METALS CHAP. I. Of the Scale of Transmutation TRansmutation is an alteration or changing of the forms of natural things into other forms as of Metals or Wood into Stones or Glass the changing of Stones into Coles c. It hath been found out That Metals that have been first coyned into Money have been by Nature changed under the Ground into a stony substance and yet have retained the impression of the Image that hath been stamped upon them and That the Roots of Oaks being smitten with Thunder or some other influence of the Stars have been turned into true Stones There do also arise Springs of Rivers in many places that by a certain natural poperty do transform all things whatsoever are cast into them into hard Stones These and such-like works of Nature wise men have contemplated and have thereby learned likewise to do the fame things by Art by observing the same Order which Nature teacheth by her Instruments This we see frequently done in many Mountains That Coles are generated of Stones naturally by a certain Aetnean fire of which Carpenters have frequent use So that this last kinde of Transmutation is done by Fire in the Earth the other before spoken of by Water and Air These are the Instruments of Nature and they are for the Matter the Motion for the Form What therefore if a natural Composition may be made Earth by Fire and that made Water by Air and this made Fire by Fire and that again descending may be made Air by Air and then this be made Water by Water and at last that may be reduced into Earth by Fire what Transmutation I pray do thou think will come thereof if you were expert you would know it The vulgar and ignorant see not these things and that for no other cause but because they do not consider the secrets of Nature Whosoever therefore together with them is ignorant of or denieth these things which Nature hath set before the Eyes of all how learned or wise soever he would seem to be he is not worthy of the Name of a Philosopher nor Physitian Whence hath Physick her first Foundation out of the appearance onely or manifest superficies of natural things Nothing less but out of the most occult and hidden secrets of Nature compared to the most manifest effects Wherefore as Nature her self is undiscernable by every sence no otherwise are all her Operations Who ever saw a Tree to grow or the Sun or Stars move No body But that the Trees have grown and the Sun and Stars have been moved by a space of time who knoweth not Therefore Operations in Physick do more chiefly consist in the Understanding rather then in the Eyes or the other Sences although they in their courses are the Directors unto us that we may make further progress otherwise between the Philosopher and the Clown there would be no further difference But to return to the purpose The Scale or Ladder of Transmutation hath seven Steps or principal Degrees which are Cascination Sublimation Solution Putrefaction Distillation Coagulation and Tincture Under Calcination are contained these his Members Reverberation Cimentation and Incineration wherewith in all Operations all things are turned into Chalk or into Ashes Therefore in the first Degree of Transmutation the elementative natural bodies are converted into Earth with a middle Fire as the Instrument And here first of all is to be noted the difference between material Elements and instrumental of which by the way we shall speak for these are external but the other are internal as when the first Operation is compleated whether it be by Calcination or Reverberation Cimentation or Incineration Sublimation succeedeth out of the order of Preparations which Earth now being calcined is converted either into Water or into Air according to the Nature and property of the thing so to be converted for if it be of dry things then chiefly is to be used the elevation of the Volatile parts from the fixed Wherefore Sublimation is convenient for things of that Nature But if there ought to be made a separation of moist things as of Vegetables or Animals then it is convenient to use Sublimation thereof in the fifth Degree to wit Distillation But because in this place it is chiefly intended to treat of dry things as Metals and Minerals the order congruent to their Natures is likewise to be observed Therefore the Volatile part is to be sublimed as in moist things by Cohobations that is by re-conjoyning of the parts separated and by iterating or separating them over again until they become fixed and remain within with the parts fixed and ascend no more but remain consisting in the substance and form of Oyl of or a Stone for with Solution by the Air they are turned into Oyl and with Coagulation by Fire into a Stone Let Sal Armoniak be an example for every Metal for that in Sublimation successively becomes Stone By this Operation of Sublimations many corrosives are dulcified and mollified and on the contrary with the addition of another substance Also many sharp things are sweetned and many sweet things on the contrary are sharpened somtimes by themselves or with other things prepared after this manner Afterwards happens the third Degree to wit Solution and that is twofold the one of cold the other of heat Salts Corrosives and whatsoever things are calcined are coagulated by Fire and then by the coldness of the Air are resolved into Liquor Water or Oyl in a moist place as a Cellar or in the Air being placed upon a Marble-stone or Glass But fat and sulphureous things are dissolved by the heat of the Fire and that which the Fire dissolveth by heat the same is coagulated by the coldness of the Air On the contrary that which is dissolved by the coldness of the Air is coagulated by the heat of the Fire Note here the Reason wherefore we call the Air cold which seems to oppose and contradict the Opinion of some Philosophers for they will have it to be hot and moist but they consider not whereof the Air consists doth it not consist of Fire and Water for what else is the Air but Water dissolved by Fire Wherefore from one part thereof to wit the Fire it borroweth heat and driness and from the other part the Water coldness and moisture for they are the two chief qualities thereof and the other two are her Ministers for there is nothing hot by Nature which is not also
necessary and naturally dry neither is there any thing cold which by the same reason is not moist Whatsoever is besides contingent hereunto is not by Nature but by accident It is no otherwise amongst the Elements the Fire and Water have the chief place and the Earth borrows her coldness from her Companion the Water and her driness from the Fire for her self she is never hot moist nor cold nor dry but serveth her two other Princes as the Wax submits to every Seal In like manner we are to judge of the Air for so the Air receiveth heat and driness from his Father the Fire and cold and moisture from his Mother the Water therefore they are generated as from their Parents the Fire and Water the Air Masculine or rather a Hermaphrodite and the Earth a Female And thus far of the natural Instruments and the Matter The fourth Degree is Putrefaction This for its excellency might deserve the first place if it were not repugnant to the true order and a secret in this place hidden to many and manifested to few It ought therefore to remain placed in its due Series even as the links in a Chain wherein if one be wanting the Captive detained therewith escapes and flies away The property therefore of Putrefaction is that consuming the old Nature of things it introduceth a new Nature and sometimes produceth Fruit of another Generation for all living things die with corruption and being dead they putrefie and again acquire life by the Transmutation of their Generation into them And by it corrosive Spirits are dulcified and mollified and all Colours are thereby turned into others and thereby the pure is separated from the unclean Now the Members of Putrefaction are Digestion and Circulation The fifth Degree is Distillation which is nothing else but a Separation of the moist from the dry and the thin from the thick The Members hereof are Ascension Lotion Imbibition Cohobation and Fixation Cohobation which concludeth all the rest is an often effusion or pouring of the distilled Liquor to its feses and often distilling it over As Vitriol with Cohobations is fixed by its own proper Water and then it is called Allumen Saccarinum which being dissolved into Liquor and then putrefied by the space of a Month and distilled yields a most sweet and pleasant Water after the manner of Sugar which is a most excellent Medicinal secret far above others to extinguish the Microcosmical Fire which happeneth to the Diggers of Metals which is largely spoken of in the Book De Morbis Fossorum Mineralium Of the Diseases of the Diggers in Mynes After the same manner also may any other Minerals and Waters as Sal Nitrum be fixed by Cohobations The sixth Degree is Coagulation which also is twofold answering contrary to Solution consisting of heat and driness that is of Air and Fire Again Coagulation is twofold as having two parts cold and as many of hear The first of cold is made of common Air without Fire and the last of the superior Firmament by the Hyâ—â—al Stone which congealeth all Waters into Snow and Ice But the first Coagulation of heat is made by industry in Art observing the gradations of the Fire and is fixed but the other Degrees of cold in Alchymy are not fixed The later Coagulation of heat is made by an Aetnean Fire and Mineral under the Earth and under the Mountains and is gradated by a natural Arch of the Earth Not unlike to this is the Fire which being gradated by the Art of Alchymy is excited and brought to Coagulation Whatsoever is coagulated by this Aetnean Fire remains fixed as is manifest by Metals and Minerals all which consist from the beginning of certain Muscilaginons matter coagulated by the Aetnean Fire and the natural Arch and Artifice of the Earth under the Mountains into Stones Metals Pearls Salts c. The seventh and last Degree of the Scale or Ladder of Transmutation is Tincture the most noble Medicine above all others that are procured by the Chymical Art whereby all Metallick and humane bodies are dipp'd into a far more noble better and excellent substance then before they were naturally of and are thereby reduced to the highest Degree of soundness colour and perfection and to a more strong and excellent Nature Various are the kindes and species of these Tinctures in this place least of all intended to he treated of The Metallick bodies ought first to be removed by Fire from their Coagulation and to be liquefied otherwise they will not receive any active Tincture unless they be opened Also all the Tinctures of Metals ought to be fixed substances easily fusible and of an incombustible Nature that being poured upon a fiery Lamen they may flow forthwith like Wax and soon penetrate the Metal without smoke as Oyl doth Paper or as Water enters into a Sponge so they dye that into a white and red colour remaining in the Fire and enduring every trial Therefore in the first Degree of Calcination to come to these Tinctures the Metals being brought into Alcol they acquire an easie liquefaction in the second Degree to wit of Solution and then by Putrefaction and Distillation their Tinctures may be fixed and made incombustible and the colours unvariable But to restore recover conserve or renew the Health of humane bodies they ought to be drawn from Gold Pearl Antimony Sulphur Vitriol or the like Various also are the Subjects of the Fire and they have several and divers Operations in Chymistry as one Fire made of the flame of Wood and this they call living Fire wherewith is calcined and reverberated the bodies of all Metals and other things another is a continual heat of a Candle or Lamp wherewith they fix Volatiles there is another Fire of Coles wherewith bodies are cemented coloured and purged from their Excrements also Gold and Silver are thereby brought to a higher Degree Venus is refined and all other Metals are renewed the fiery Lamens of Irons have another Operation for thereupon is made the trial of Tinctures Another heat is raised by Fire by the filings of Iron another in Ashes another in Salt another in Balneo Mariae wherewith are made many Distillations Sublimations and coagulations There is also another Operation made by Balneum Roris which sometimes I have elsewhere called Balneum Vaporosum wherewith many Solutions of corporal things are made Then the Venter Equinus hath another Operation in which are made the chief Putrefactions and Digestions also the invisible Fire hath an Operation far beyond all these that is of the Beams of the Sun which plainly appeareth by his Operations as by a Speculum or Chrystal And of this the Ancients have not made mention By this Fire the three Principles of every thing may be separated upon a Table of Wood without any fear of flagration or adustion and all Metals liquefied without any visible Fire and all combustibles consumed into Coals and Ashes But the Transmutation of Metals to bring
a thousand pieces not without danger of the body and life of the Operator On the contrary if the Vessel be too capacious and more large then for the heat to operate upon the matter according to its proportion the work will also be frustrate and in vain Therefore our Philosophical Vessel is to be fabricated with greatest industry and diligence But they onely understand what the matter of this our Vessel is who in the first Solution of our fixed and perfect matter have reduced and brought the same into their first Essence of which we have spoken enough Let the Operator therefore diligently note what he takes and what he refuses in the Solution of the first matter The manner of describing this Vessel is difficult yet it ought to be of such a form as Nature her self requires which is to be sought and investigated from one and another In brief io must be such that from the altitude of the Philosophical Heaven being elevated above the Philosophical Earth it may operate to bring forth the Fruit of its terrene body It ought to have this form That when rhe Fire forces one from the other there may be a separation and purification of the Elements so that every one may occupy his own place wherein he remaineth and that the Sun and the other Planets may exercise their Operations about the terrene Element and that their course be not impedited in their Circuit nor stirred up with too violent a motion According to all these things which have been said it ought to have a proportion of roundness and altitude Those which appertain to the first cleansing and mundification of Mineral bodies are melting Vessels Crucibles lementing Vessels Cucurbites and Glasses for Aqua Fortis which are also necessary for the projection in the last work but as concerning the Vessel useful for this work it is necessary that you have a Glass rightly and duly proportioned for if it be too capacious or more large then its just and due proportion the matter that is the humidity is dilated so that nothing can be produced therefrom And if it be too narrow or little and compressing the matter the growth thereof will be suffocated that it can produce no Fruit. An example thereof may be taken from hence If Corn or any thing else be sown in the shade or under the droppings of an House what Fruit can be expected therefrom Wherefore our greatest care ought to be in the adopting and fitting of the Glass for an error being committed thereby or therein is not easily corrected and amended so that by the impediment thereof the work is not brought to the wished end Wherefore to two Ounces of the matter take two Ounces and a half of Glass or the Philosophical Egge that is a Glass of that weight having regard to the due thickness of the Glass This being observed you shall avoid error in this thing CHAP. VI. Of the Subject or Philosophical Matter in general HAving hitherto sufficiently spoken of the Chymical Instruments now hearken what Matter you are to chuse to begin this Spagyrick Work after that the Vegetables are mortified the concurrences of the two Metals that is Salt and Sulphur they are transmuted into a Mineral Nature so that from thence at length results a perfect Mineral For in the Mineral Caverns of the Earth some Vegetables are found which by a long succession of time and a continual heat have put off the vegetable Nature of Sulphur and put on a Mineral Nature And this most especially happens where the most proper Nutriment of these kinde of Vegetables is taken away that they may be afterwards compelled to receive their Aliment from the Sulphur and Salt of the Earth so long until that which before was Vegetable become a perfect Mineral And from this Mineral condition a certain Metallick perfect Essence doth sometimes arise and that by the progress of one Degree unto another But that we may return to speak of the Philosophers Stone the matter whereof is most difficult to finde out and understand The manner and most certain Rule of this Investigation and of all other things whatsoever is a careful and diligent Examination of the Radix and Sperm thereof whereby is found out the knowledge of the matter Much availing hereunto is a due and necessary consideration of the beginning and original of Metals how and after what manner Nature first bringeth them from imperfection to the end of perfection To which consideration it first of all conduceth the perfect knowledge of the three first Principles whereof Nature createth all things that is Sal Sulphur and Mercury naturally permixed into one body yet so that in some they are volatile and in others fixed For as often as the corporal Sal is permixed with the spiritual Mercury and animate Sulphur then Nature begins to operate in those Subterranean places which she hath in stead of her Vessels by the separating Fire which separates the crass and impure Sulphur from the pure and segregates the Earth from the Sal and the Nubes from the Mercury reserving the first parts which Nature decocteth again together into one constant Geogamical body Which Operation is had from the greater mixture and conjunction by the union of three to wit Body Soul and Spirit This Union being compleated from thence results pure Mercury which if it flow through the Subterranean Pores and Veins and be made obvious to the Sulphur it is coagulated herewith according to the condition of the Sulphur Yet nevertheless it is still Volatile insomuch that it is scarce decocted into Metal in twenty yeers afterwards From thence this vulgar Opinion received its original to wit that Sulphur and Mercury are the Matter of the Metals as is manifest by the Relation of the Diggers of Minerals But neither vulgar Mercury nor common Sulphur are the Matter of the Metals but the Mercury and Sulphur of the Philosophers are incorporate and innate in perfect Metals and in the Forms thereof so that they never fly from the Fire nor are depraved by the force of the corruption of the Metals So that by the Dissolution of that natural mixture our Mercury is tamed and fixed say the Spagyrick Philosophers Therefore under this form of Words our Mercury out of perfect bodies and the vertue of the terrene Planets cometh to be extracted which also Hermes asserts in these words he saith That Sol and Luna are the Roots of this Art The Son of Hannel saith That the Philosophers Stone is a coagulated water to wit in Sol and Luna From whence it plainly appears That the Matter of our Stone is only Sol and Luna which is confirmed by this That every like naturally brings forth and generates his like And as we know there are two Stones the white and the red so there are also two Matters of the Stone Sol and Luna coupled together in their proper Matrimony either natural or artificial And as we see a Man and Woman cannot generate nor
Ark which gave light to all living Creatures therein This the greatest Carbuncle could not do nor any precious Stone that is only natural But the Universal Spirit fixed in a transparent Body shines like the Sun in Glory and gives sufficient Light to all the Room to read by therefore it is most probable this was the Light that God commanded to make to give Light to all living Creatures for it is of perpetual durance And whereas Tubal-Cain is said to be a perfect Master of every Artificer in Brass and Iron which some hold doth contain the whole and perfect decoction of the Metallick Vertue wherein the Central Vertue is most abundant and makes the happy more admired who walk in the midst of the Stones of Fire Ezek. 28.16 For where there are two things of one Nature the chief is to be understood Therefore in the mention of Fires pure Fire is preferred The Scarlet Veil in the Temple seemed ever moving and signified pure Fire generative and fixed in cleer Bodies as Vrim and Thummim Although Essences are not without great difficulty made manifest in themselves yet the cleer Vision thereof makes the possibility unquestionable as at Elisha's Prayer his Servant saw the Chariot and Horses of fire about his Master which before he saw not so are they apparent when the invisible is made visible Some think Exod. 18.30 that Urim and Thummim were not Artificial because they are said in the Text to be put in the brestplate but not to be made but this point may be cleared by observing the several kindes of making as betwixt those things made with hands and those things that are only made visible by effect for where natural and habitual Vertue do meet together the perfection is more absolute by a kinde of new Generation as the pure Sulphur of Metal by an inward power doth purge it self by ebulition not by the first and remote causes but by the second and neerer whereof the Philosophers say The secret of all secrets is of such a disposition which cannot be perfected with hands for it is a transmutation of natural things from one thing to another Also it is said The Artist takes impure Spirits and by Sublimation Nature and Art cleanseth them into bodies pure and fixed so that the bodily Nature doth eternally predominate and being more then perfect doth give perfection to other things Now that these perfections have their beginnings from two Lights both the Text and the antient Philosophers make plain but ignorance and the matter of the Elements are the Iron Gates which must be cut in pieces before the invisible be made visible For the natural Urim and Thummim the Philosophers affirm what they have seen and done and that they did nothing save that they did before and knew so that a perfect knowledge is especially requisite to make a perfect Art therefore we are to consider the means to attain to this end The Lord gave Bezaliel Wisdom Understanding and Knowledge Exod. 31.3 4. these are the means for Gold is dissolved by Wisdom in Contrition Assation and Fire The end is directed to invent works in Gold Silver and Brass which is not to be understood according to the found of words but according to the intent of all Distillation to extract the inward part and manifest the central vertue for where the perfection of the matter is glorious the perfection of the form is more glorious The Sun and Moon are as the Parents of all inferior bodies and things which come neerest in vertue and temperature are more excellent The Sun's Motion and Vertue doth vivifie all inferior bodies and those things which come neerest in vertue and temperature are more excellent the Sun's Motion and Vertue doth vivifie all inferior bodies and the pure form of the terrestrial Sun is said to be all Fire and therefore doth the celestial Sun communicate most vertue therefore the incorrupted quality of pure Sulphur being digested in external heat hath also regal power over all inferior bodies for the Sun doth infuse his influence into all things but especially into Gold and those natural bodies do never shew forth their virtues till they be made spiritual One of the Rabbins saith They made in the second Temple Urim and Thummim to the end they might make up all the eight Ornaments although they did not inquire by them because the Holy Ghost was not there and every Priest that spake not by the Holy Ghost on whom the divine Majesty resteth not they enquire not by him so it is with Sacramental Bread which hath no signification before Consecration But these men had the spirit of Bezaliel and made these natural spiritual Bodies which soveraign Tincture some say So purifieth and causeth the radical humour so to abound that the Children in the fourth Generation yea as some say in the tenth shall perceive the effect of such perfect health of their Ancestors Others say That if they have once finished this Art and should live a thousand yeers they might give what they will and when they will without danger of diminution as a man that hath Fire may give to his Neighbour without hurt to himself Marcus Vasso said There was much more mysteries in the Flamines Ceremonies then they understood Vesta signified pure Earth and internal Fire of which it is said Vesta is Earth and Fire Earth undergoeth the name and so doth Fire Vesta is both Thus is shewn forth in a work done by Fire The mighty Vesta and her pure Attire Philosophy is nothing but the study of Wisdom considered in a created Nature as well subject to sense as invisible and consequently material and Wisdomes central Body is the shadow of Wisdomes central Essence and the moral Interpretation can never exclude the real effects from ocular demonstration but where Reason hath experience Faith hath no merit and without Faith there is no knowledge of any excellent thing for the end of Faith is Understanding The Rabbins hold every natural beginning to be either matter or cause of the matter viz. the four Elements But here beginnings must be well understood for there are beginnings of Preparations and beginnings of Composition and beginnings of Operation for the Artist was commanded to devise work in Gold that is from the object to the possibility for if the matter be glorious the form must be more glorious and though the spiritual Nature be more operative yet the bodily Nature must predominate eternally so that to make the corporal spiritual and the spiritual corporal is the whole scope of the intention yet the spiritual is not first but the natural for corruption must put on incorruption and mortality immortality for that which is of greatest durance and most abundant in vertue doth most excel in Glory and Beauty and so fittest to make Vrim and Thummim for power and honour are in his Sanctuary But because the greatest things are not done by strength or habit of fingering as also
because the intellect doth so far excel the sense this is a work of a second intention and the beginning upon the vertue of Elements that is a pure bright and cleer Water of Putrefaction for the perfection of every Art properly so called requires a new birth as that which is sowed is not quickned except it die but here death is taken for mutation and not for rotting under the clods Now therefore we must take the Key of Art and consider the secret of every thing is the Life thereof Life is a Vapor and in Vapor is placed the wonder of Art whatsoever hath heat agitating and moving in it self by the internal Transmutation is said to live this Life the Artist seeks to destroy and restore an eternal Life with Glory and Beauty This Vapor is called The vegetable Spirit because it is of degree of heat with the hottest Vegetable and being decocted till it shine like brightest Steel you shall see great and marvelous secrets not by the separation of Elements by themselves but by predomination and victory of that pure Fire which like the Celestial Sun enters not materially but by help of Elemental Fire sends forth his influence and impression of form Here we must observe difference of perfections for although ye have now the Fountain of compleat white yet you are not neer your chief delight which is the Fountain of Life and Centre of the Heart the universal Spirit which lives in the radical humidity and doth naturally vivificate and is the masculine Seed of the Celestial Sun here is that Rule made good Except ye sow in Gold ye do nothing Therefore we must take heed what we understand by Gold whereof there are three sorts Vulgar Chymical and Divine which is therefore so called because it is a special Gift of God The Theosophists are perswaded by exact diet and by certain form of prayers at certain times to obtain the Angel of the Sun to be their Guide and Director The Philosophers advise to take the like matter above Earth that Nature hath made under the Earth Others to search the most precious treasure from a vile thing all which is easily agreed if rightly understood for in the lines following the same Author saith The vile thing is from the Sperm of Gold cast in the matrix of Mercury by a prime conjunction Others affirm Azoch and Ignis to be sufficient for this high perfection the which Azoch among the Germans is Silver with the Macedonians Iron with the Greeks Mercury with the Hebrews Tin with the Tartars Brass with the Arabians Saturn and with the Indians Gold All which being diverse in Nature are potential in one composition and by the duel of Spirits the Celestial Gold obtaineth victory over all the rest and is made though not with hands a body shining like the Sun in glory which is called Ens omnis privationis expers or Thummim This is the Key that made the pure cleer Fountain and of it was made himself the fair Woman so loving the red Man she became one with him and yielded him all glory who by his Regal power and soveraign Quality raigneth over the fourfold Nature eternally but if any shall understand either common or Chymical Gold to be the substance of this sacred body he is much mistaken for a glorious Spirit will not appear save in a body of his own kinde Although pure Manchet be made of the finest Meal yet Wheat is not excluded and so Bread is said to be of the second and neerer causes rather then the remote notwithstanding that which is made by the effect in a successive course is as certain as that which is made with hands After we fell from unity we groan under the burden of division but three makes up the union first temporary and afterwards eternally fixed He that knoweth a thing fully must know what it was is and shall be so to know the several parts of a successive course is not a small thing neither the honor little in the right use of the Creature Air turned into Water by his proper mixture becomes Wood and the same Wood by Water is turned into a Stone A Spring in Italy called Clytinus makes Oxen white that drink it And the River in Hungary turns Iron into Copper VVhat excellency things may attain by habitual vertue or what power when Nature and Art make one perfection who is able to express If you desire by Art to have a thing of admirable sweetness and odor you will take a substance of like quality to exalt into such excellency the proper quality of Fire and Air is sweetness it is but appropriate in Earth and Water what bodies shall we finde where these are most abundant to be wrought upon As the Celestial Bodies give no Tincture yet they are most abundant in Tincture Air is cause of Life Mercury is coacted Air Ethereal and truly Homogeneal which doth after a sort congeal and fix it is called a crude Gold and Gold affixed and mature Mercury And although the crude Quality be cold and dry some hold for the excellency of its temperature That it is all Fire or like to it whereby it is dissolved however it is at large proved those bodies are most abundant in pure Fire and Air whose proper Quality is sweetness Therefore those are the fittest subjects to make the most precious perfume in the world and considering cleerness and brightness is the centre of each thing and those bodies have both centre and superficies cleer and bright whensoever they are purified by Art and the bodies made spiritual and those Spirits corporated again they must necessarily be Bodies of greatest or cleerest Light and Perfection as one compareth a glorified Body to a cleer Lanthorn with a Taper in it saying The more a man excels in vertue the greater or lesser was the Taper But the work cannot be manifest without the destruction of the exterior form and the restitution of a better which is the glorious substances of Urim and Thummim which in their being and Physical use preserves the Temple of Man's Body incorruptible Some observe not just difference between Liquification and Solution but all Corrosives or violent Operations Nature hates because there can be no Generation but of like Natures neither can you have the precious Sperms without Father and Mothers And although one Vessel is sufficient to perfect the Infant in the Wombe yet Nature hath provided several breasts to nourish it and different means to exalt it to the strength of a man How Gold should be burnt which the Fire cannot consume is questionable but every exaltation of this soveraign Spirit adds a tenfold vertue and power then take one part of this Spirit which is become as insensible as dust and upon molten Gold it turns all into powder which being drunk in White-wine openeth the Understanding encreaseth Wisdom and strengtheneth the Memory for here is the Vein of Understanding Fountain of Wisdom and River of Knowledge
The Truth of every thing is said to be his incorrupted Nature for nothing shall rest eternally visible at the last fire but that which is of pure vertue and essential purity Truth and Science is not led by chance or Fortune but the Spirit of God guides by the Hand of Reason And it seems the Prophets esteem of these Stones of Fire some meaning the Stone of Darkness and as it were Fire turned up Others the Stone of Tin and Ezekiel the Stones of Fire attained by Wisdom which he differeth from the natural precious Stones as pure Fire from common Fire Therefore let modesty allow that possible whereof he understands not the termination and degrees neither refuse the Waters of Shiloah because they go slowly for they that wade in deep Waters cannot go fast To obtain the Treasures of Nature you must follow Nature onely Isaiah 8.6 who gives not the like time to every Generation but as the Mare hath ten months the Elephant three or as some say nine yeers and fifty before conjunction Be patient therefore in a work of Nature for thereunto onely is promised Victory and the chief errors in Art are haste and dulness The Regeneration of Man and the Purification of Metals have like degrees of Preparation and Operation to their highest Perfection The first beginnings of Transmutation or Naturation is the smallest measure of pure Sulphur with both Riches and Honor in the left-Hand and length in the right In natural Generations the form prepares the matter yet there are precedent Preparations The beginnings of Transmutation must be distinguished some are begun of Preparation and some are begun of Composition Beginnings of Preparation in the well of Tears doth qualifie the coldness and dulness of the crude disposition and tame and subdue the fearful quality of swift flying and changeth the colour of this eternal Liquour turning the inside outward and adding heat by the internal Sulphur of the Homogeneal Body which is by means of changed Water because Water by Water can onely be extracted yet it is excluded in the conclusion for though it be a necessary preparation to the alteration following yet is but the servile and passive which hath the first operation being preserved unhurt in weight and purity Beginnings of Composition are those inward Operations and Changes that follow after that scalding deluge which by mixing with fixed Sulphur doth dissolve the stubbornness of this Urne and by help of the external heat the internal Sulphur is excited by Operation and purifieth the substance but onely to a pale whiteness more hurtful then profitable to the Body of Man what these are shall afterwards appear Again Sulphur must be distinguished white Sulphur and living or reviving Sulphur white Sulphur is of like Operation and is perfected by restraining and healeth almost all diseases and tingeth to white ad infinitum By knowledge hereof even meer natural men have believed the Resurrection become sober temperate and patient not doubting within the centre of compleat white rests the red Stone of most delight This hath caused men justly to condemn all Cementations Calcinations and Citrinations being enlightned with the glorious object which is as cleer as a Christal Looking-Glass Reviving Sulphur is the secret of secrets and the glory of the whole world and onely proper to such whom the Creator hath apted by way of natural disposition for they do not onely mortifie but purifie a pure body quickning it with the same essential form and are said to make a spiritual Body because there is no corruption to resist the Spirit but the bodily Nature being wholly subject is with the Spirit eternally fixed in a transparent Body shining as the Sun Therefore the conclusion must be understood of the second and not of the first for though a man have never so much white Sulphur if he have not of this reviving Sulphur he is as far from the precious Spirit which hath power over all inferior bodies as any other for onely that which is of the Nature of the Sun shall shine like the Sun in glory A Synod of Philosophers adviseth us in seeking the treasures of Health and Riches we should shew affections to Justice and Prudence like Solomon asking Wisdom Riches were given to him as advantage Let us search therefore celestial Vertue which is the centre of all things so will it be easie to manifest the soveraign Spirit of Health and Riches for the vegetable Sulphur is the first Mover in Nature and onely the Mercurial Nature hath power of Metallical Life and Death Crude Mercury is originally a vapor from cleer Water and Air of most strong composition coacted or Air it self with a Mercurial Spirit by Nature flying Etherial and Homogeneal having the Spirits of heat and cold and by exterior and interior heats doth congeal and fix Also Gold is a fixed Fire or mature Mercury and may be made more volative then Mercury but onely by divers Mercuries made Of Mercury is Nature set on work the fixed Body loosed the vegetable Sulphur created and the universal Spirit fixed For the Authority of the ancient Writers Divine and Natural Reasons assure us this and no other is the true course to manifest those Lights wherein the Creator hath heaped up vertue and power But it 's objected The Philosophers do not agree amongst themselves Answ Instruments of divers strings make sweet harmony if they be well tuned but their Readers do rather seek to over-rule them then by painful industry to finde them consent Object Affirm Contraries Answ The Artist his intention is to agree contraries Object They exclude Gold and Mercury from the creation of the Stone Answ Because their crude matter is from the destruction of the exterior form Object They say The vertue of Elements is their materials Answ Right in respect of their beginnings upon pure bodies Object All their secrets spring from one vile thing common to rich and poor Answ Precious things corrupred are most vile and Science is common to rich and poor and hath much use of Calcination or Dust Object No Metal is required to the making of the Stone Answ As no part of man to the making of man Object One thing one Glass one Furnace is sufficient Answ True when two things of one kinde are apted and conjoyned Object Out of one Root proceeds white and red Answ Even as Male and Female from one Womb. Object The Stone is vegetable animal and mineral Answ Right joynt and several it is said to be vegetable because in the maturation it is multiplied in vertue and quantity it is said to be animal because it encreaseth his own kinde and it 's said to be Mineral because his original is from Metal or their Mineral Here we may remember the Bishop of Otrecht who lost his life for discovering his secret Why should we prevent the highest distribution who hath not made knowledge hereditary but wrapt things in secret that we might difference things in being and in being
and use Nature is even jealous of her supremacy and abhorreth to see the sensible before the intellectual Treasures preferred This shews the beginning and end of Art Lux sata est justo cum rectis animo laetitia Mark what ye sow for such is your harvest Light is sown on pure Earth and some Grain begins to put forth Ears at three joynts some at four but the Ear never buds until the joynts be grown And what vertue this knotting or fixing gives consider for by meditation you may see by seeing you may know by knowing ye delight by delighting ye adhere by adhering ye possess by possessing ye enjoy the Truth that is the incorrupted use made visible Therefore take heed how ye value for Part of these things thy minde may prompt thee to And part thy better part may teach thee how to do The making of Urim and Thummim and the perfection of the Elixir is aptly compared to the fourfold Creation of Mankinde Adam from Earth Eve from Adam Abel from both and Jesus Christ from a Virgin so man called a living stone produceth that eternally stony and fiery conquering Spirit called the Elixir from their proper Earth only their Adam from their Eve from both their Virgo from her only the soveraign and universal Spirit which doth vivifie and preserve all living Creatures and raiseth the Artist from the dust to sit among Princes Life without sin is wisdom manifest in the flesh a Body without shadow is the universal Spirit corporate Urim and Thummim were holy Signs within the brest-plate to enquire of God in the Temple Natural Urim and Thummim is a visible quality in a cleer Body which preserveth the Temple of Man's Body incorruptible Is it not prophetical that all men shall wisely consider the works of God to the end they may know how to value them rightly and to make just difference between corporal and spiritual things Psal 64.9 Psal 111.8 and corporate Spirits for although Spirits possess no place yet they fail not to fill every part by contact of their vertue and in the use alters both quality and quantity the perfect and distinct knowledge whereof doth necessarily manifest the things sought after by the proper and appropriate qualities and from th causes to the effect openeth the internal Beauty of a true and natural Essence as plainly as by seeing that ye see and also sheweth the terminate privative and perfect end of every particular act which is the richest of intellectual Treasures because Science and Essence are one and where the several works and successive are apparent the time need not be limited like the men of Bethulia for onely at Elisha his Prayer his Servants eyes were opened to see invisible things which all that rise to glory shall do It was held of old Nothing deserves the love of an honest man save the internal Beauty Therefore they held Love or natural Affection to be the first cause or motion like as the heat and vertue of the Sun and of the whole Heavens hath power in all things created under Heaven and by their Influence and Radiation all things encrease grow live and are conserved and by their recess they mourn and wither fall and droop yet they do not necessitate any all their force being most in imperfect things for a body of equal temper receives little alteration from the Constellations because the Earth received vertue before the Heavens were adorned with Sun Moon and Stars Therefore that is to be distinguished in Reason so is distant in place and different things in being and in being and use for change of quality brought confusion and a better change Renovation Historians affirm The River Nilus vaporeth not by reason of the long decoction under the Sun yet is the Water most wholesom and Medicinable and the Neighbor earth begins to encrease in weight the seventeenth of June and not before even then when the River begins to rise which sympathy of the distant Water and Earth by the power of Heaven is not against Nature although beyond ordinary reach Therefore for a leading cast let us observe the concord of Metallical Bodies which like the first Male and Female have not several beginnings but are all from a Sulphurous vapor which by help of Influence Instrument Digestion and Masculine and Feminine vertue connexing proper and appropriate qualities they obtain their perfection by the power of God 's Ordinance yet as every Earth yields not like Metal so every Metal yields not like central vertue Therefore according to that creating command every thing should encrease in its proper kinde not in diverse and time makes the number infinite The Ancients reading the great Volume of the Book of Nature finde no abridgement to assimilate the Majesty of Nature save Man and the Stone both which are called Living Stones whose original Mortification Purification and difficult Exaltation are of infinite vertue Then observe also a Celestial and Terrestrial Sun which they parallel with Man which because they onely are capable of true temper which is certainly possible although seldom enjoyed But to gain this precious Treasure of Life and Health we must make sufficient provision like men that do deal with great persons for Gold is Lord of Stones and noblest of Metals and by his proper Regiment doth multiply himself infinitely Therefore Geber in his Book of Deundation saith In Gold are ten parts heat ten parts humidity ten parts siccity which triple perfection makes an absolute unity Body Soul and Spirit being eternally vivified because unity is a generical quality of all that is one and is an effect of the Form which doth produce it for of all kinde of Governments ten is the most perfect and for the natural substance no composition is like to Gold for it is a most perfect temper and equal mixion the miracle of Nature a Celestial Star a Terrestrial Sun the Fountain of Life the Centre of the Heart the secret vertue of all Celestial and Terrestrial Bodies the Masculine and Universal Seed first and most powerful of the Sulphurous Nature the great Secret of the Almighty Creator It hath most Form and Entity so most Vertue and Operation in it the Elements are elementized It is called Sulphur and Sulphur-Fire yea it is said to be all Fire or like to that in which it is dissolved And as Light is the Centre of Heaven and Soul of the World so Brightness is the Centre and Celestial Vertue the Form of Gold whose admired mixion nothing meerly natural can dissolve nor any thing artificial except it agree with it in matter and form and do remain with it in the recongealation This vertual Influence enters potentially and dwells in the radical humidity and no other thing whether from Heaven or Earth doth nourish the Heart yet it is not visible before vertue be matched for there is best concord where it is most abundant but whither shall we mount to match this miracle of Nature The Historians
tell us of an eternal Liquor of most strong Coaction rained down from Heaven here is like descent she is called Hyperiwn or Daughter of the Sun a Body of like weight and vertue with Gold fair cleer quick only coacted and brought from the Empire of humidity to suit the person which in her crude Nature shews strong Affection and turns the noblest of Metals into her own colour Therefore the Artist studies how to disponsate these two And first denudateth the Lady of her frosty Garments that she may have the first activity and liquefie her fettered Lord then are they both in the power of Art to better It is objected This Heaven-born Hermodactylus or Hydromel is of a Nature so obstinate and incorrect she will by no means receive the best impression Consider Her names signifie mixt matter of contrary quality therefore may be separated and although her original obscure condition because it is unknown by the innate affections and subsistance for it is an Airy Body or Air it self with Mercurial Spirit subsisting of internal heat and external cold Others say It is composed of the Spirit of the World corporate in the womb of the Earth and apt to receive the qualities and properties of all natural things as wax impression and being composed of Spirits the weight is of greater wonder Others say It is a crude Sperm not sufficiently decocted yet not to be profaned Others call it an immature Gold which kills it self and the Father and the Mother to bring forth a pure Infant by her they overcome the Fire she is the perfection of the Universal Medicine what Conformity what Similitude what Identity she holds with the Metallical Urne being the original matter and substance thereof and may be coagulated to the equal temper of Gold is as the whiteness in Snow Therefore the Ancients magnifie the most Blessed who created such a substance and gave it such properties as no other thing in Nature doth possess yet we see it is a vitious matter which hath superfluous Humidity proper and appropriate Qualities separable and inseparable Accidents Therefore the separable may be removed to which end she is included in a Well of Tears that the VVatriness may be vapored or through long Decoction by Driness vanquished Then doth it as it were congeal and fix and become more apt for durance and extension for whatsoever is contrary to the natural doth debilitate and like by his like is nourished but heat is contrary to cold and the natural property of scalding heat is to weaken and dry The fresh Water adds power and heat heat augmented becomes Fire and Time turns Strength to Corruption This glutinous substance hath natural heat from which is the Life and Death of the Elements Therefore as common Fire bringeth all things to his own Nature so the external working upon the internal heat it doth necessarily obtain victory Therefore if you can believe that heat and driness shall overcome cold and moisture that lineary and successive course hidden to all the World is open to you Therefore as Nature delights in Concord so the Lovers and Searchers into Natures Work must be of constant mindes and Gideon-like resolve to race the City Meroz not refusing to assist the publick good and then the Marriage for the Princess never unmasks her Virgin-Beauty except to him that hath skill and power to espouse her in a bed of Love which none can do before the despoliation of the exterior form but the Obstacles removed and Nature set on work the external Decree doth necessitate the effect for being now warm and blyth and apt for new Generation and pounded with her Lord grated to Dust his unnatural softness deceives the sense and they passionately condole each others Exile and in their imbraces fall in a sound until their dissolved Bodies shew corruption and the more pure being corrupted are more vile The Artist finding them out of their Indian Paradise corrects their central virtue and raising them from the Earth leads them the thorny path to threefold happiness and by fiery trial purifieth the Quantity and changeth the Quality and so brings them to perfect rest whereby they have power over the bodies of Men and Metals and are crowned in token of their dignity and boundless Territories Now considering the rarity of true Knowledge the Honor and Dignity of things desired what Spirit is so ignoble to think much either of Cost or Time when that which is sought is of all Terrestrial Treasure most excellent FINIS An Appendix of the Vertues and Use of an excellent Essential Water made and approved by Stephen Trigge Student in Physick and Astrology and by him gained and experimented at Amsterdam and also in London IN all manner of Fevers both Pestilential and others Calentures Apoplexies and all Epidemical Diseases it is a perfect and certain Remedy and in Quartain and Quotidian Feavers where the Disease ariseth from Choler It perfectly remedies the Bloody Flux and all other Fluxes either of the Stomack or Belly Vomiting Scowring and Excoriation of the Bowels and where the Stomack is spoiled for want of Appetite this is a sure Fortification for it wonderfully strengthens the Stomack both the vital and animal Spirit and mightily succors the Heart that is oppressed with heat And being taken in Aqua Melissae it doth speedily help the extream beating and panting of the Heart Convulsion-fits and falling Sickness it cureth safely and speedily and all manner of heat breaking out in the Face and any other part of the Body being either caused by the heat of the Sun or by some noisome Food taken into the Body that doth cause putrefaction of the Blood The way to take it is this in a burning Feaver take of it in Planten-Water if there be loosness in the Belly and sweeten it with Syrupe of Clove-Gilly-Flowers and drink it as your constant Drink till the Feaver is abated and the Appetite recovered In the Calenture Drink it in Balm-Water being made far sharper then white-Wine-Vinegar and mixed with Syrupe of Cowslip-Flowers it must be drunk very often till the senses come and the Patient remain cured which will be in few dayes for it penetrateth the Blood makes it thin quencheth the Feaver reviveth the Heart and Brain and quickneth all the digestive Faculties In the Apoplexy take it in Betony-Water and Aqua Vitae with Syrupe of Stoechas take the Dose as in the Calenture or stronger if the Patient be able to bear it and it shall be holpe in forty eight hours or thereabouts If there be any thing in this World that will preserve Man if the Glass of God's determination be not quite run out this will help Though he be lame over all his Body his Senses gone his Speech lost and to the judgement of many as dead yet this precious Liquor will in a wonderful manner restore them speedily and safely In the Scurvy Canker Squinancy and Inflammation of the Uvula this doth excel all ordinary Medicines for it doth
evil and That those that eat of the fruit thereof shall be as God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowing good and evil To which the Person of the Father speaking to the rest of the Godhead attests saying Lo Adam is as one of us knowing good and evil Which Elocution of the tri-une God may not be thought ironical as it might at the first glance seem to be Seeing then a double and contrary meaning should be implied in the words as if God had by a mental Reservation hinted one thing and by an oral Expression declared another pronouncing that for verity which could be taken for no other then flat falsity but let God be true for though on Adams part it be Metaphorical in all other respects it is categorical and affirmative as if God had said Because Adam by the enticement of the Serpent hath eaten of the Tree of Knowledge and thereby acquired the knowledge of Good and Evil not that that is competible onely to the Deity but that that is Philosophical and Communicable Lo he is as one of us that is he emulates the Omniscients Pansophy in his Measure and Degree Yea God the Son elsewhere uses the like Elocution The Children of this world are wiser in their generation then the children of light And that this Interpretation is true the following words evince irrefragably and therefore he thrust him out of Paradise lest knowing the Nature and Facultie of the other Trees he should put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever If then the Faculty of the vivifical Tree was true and such a Tree truely natural existed as had power to confer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immortality to its Tasters as without doubt it did the Faculty of this scientifical Tree must also be true and no way feigned and I need not urge I think That Adam and Eve would never have believed the Serpent to their ruine if the light of their Nature had not also discovered the Fruit of this Tree to be scientifical It is therefore true and impraegnable That this Paradisaical Tree was indued with this same Faculty of giving knowledge So that the Question will now be Whether this Faculty was infused into it in the Creation acquired by it after the Creation or communicated to it by some other means and way And to loose this Gordian knot Hic labor hoâ—â—pus est And here also the Scripture though somewhat obscurely points out a mean to resolve this Quaere the words are thus The Serpent was more subtil then any beast of the field which the Lord God had made Which words are here inserted for no end that I can finde unless they portend something of moment in this matter It is further observable That the Devil came not to Eve in form of an Apple but of a Serpent which he knew for subtilty worthy to be preferred before all Beasts which also Eve judged to have spoken naturally It is moreover also probable That the Serpent had his Cavern under or about that Tree whereof God being in no wise ignorant forbade man the use of its Fruit. Moreover it is considerable That in things obscure and dubious that Explication must be admitted whereto Sense Reason and Experience give suffrage if it speak not contradiction to the Rule of Faith Who is he then that can conceive or what Diver into Natures secrets hath met with the like Mystery that he can by some weak resemblance evince the World how by the eating of a single Apple her children may suck in more then humane Knowledge Whereas on the other side I should very much derogate from mans praecellency if I should in the least doubt that the acuteness of his Intellect could not finde out a way how this Faculty might be acquired and so close with our Sentence That this Tree became scientifical by way of Transplantation from the Serpent that is this Tree and its Fruits had both the spiritual Essence and the spiritual Vertues of the Serpent communicated to them and impressed in them by vertue of the Serpents cohabitation with them For in Nature we finde That many Bodies do not onely by their qualities affect their adjacents but also infuse their Vertue into them indue them with the same Faculty Thus the Magnet doth not onely attract Iron-Rings but communicates its Vertue to them and makes them Magnetical as I can upon Ocular Testimony aver And thus Vegetables may transume and possess the Proprieties and Affections of Animals and yet not transgress the Bounds of Nature of which rank not only this Treatise affords us many Examples but Smollius also who was our Manuductor into this Opinion records some and assigns the Reasons thereof in his Manual of admirable things Of which same Argument Theophrastus also treating in his Book of the origine of Sciences affirms That our hairy and white Serpents in Germany are indued with such admirable and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supernaturally excellent vertues that they are and will be of special use for the attainment of Knowledge both natural and occult And he adds further in the same Book That the simpler sort think themselves nothing bettered by this his service and therefore he judges it not Work worth the while to cast more Pearls before such Swine being perswaded he hath satisfied the wiser sort By what Art then this incomparable Treasure may be effoded the diligent Searcher of Nature shall finde if he seriously perpend the fore-quoted words and with unprejudiced thoughts judiciously consider that noble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this purpose most truly-useful pair of little Books one treating of Time the other of the origine of Sciences neither will he have cause to say He hath spent his Oyl if he take time to confer one of them with the other and judge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Purple by Purple because as in the Book of Time the Mumy of the Microcosm is distinctly handled the four corporal Mumies being first treated of and afterwards the one essential and spiritual of the Microcosme so again in the Book of the origine of Sciences the spiritual Mumy of the Serpent how it may be transplanted into certain Fruits to make them scientifical for the good of man takes up the former Treatise and the later is destined to the corporal Mumies of the Serpent And hence any wise man may easily collect That the extraction of Mumy spiritual is in all the same and differs not according to the diversity of those things whence it is extracted as Theophrastus shews in his Book of Time where treating of the spiritual Mumy of the Serpent he gives us an account how the Ape by means thereof enters league and amity with its utter Enemy the Serpent nay I dare affirm That he that hath the perfect knowledge of the Mumy-spiritual of the Microcosm and its Consequents which Theophrastus handles in his Book of Time shall easily attain the knowledge of all the
at all The Earth thus prepared must of necessity be returned into a Calx giving not a dissolving but a digesting heat of the fire When this Truth is calcined you shall put it in a fit Vessel of Glass which must be set it temperate heat of the fire the first degree and in it unto the Earth must be poured one ounce of the animated Spirit As for example To one ounce of the Earth you must put one of the Spirit which animated Spirit I taught you heretofore to draw out of the Earth it self by Distillation Then shut the Vessel with a blind Head and suffer it to be digested three dayes or so long till the Earth hath drawn up his Spirit then taking away the blind Head and putting on a Limbeck by Distillation draw out the Phlegmatick and unsavory moisture how little soever be in it Then again the second time give to the same Earth of its own Spirit the seventh part and putting the blind Head upon it set the Vessel on the first degree of heat to be digested three dayes space then taking a way the blue Head and putting on the Alimbeck distil all the insipid moisture Thirdly Add to the same Earth the fixth part of its own animated Water and putting on the blue Head set in digestion for three days and after that time removing of the blind Head and putting on the Alimbeck distil the superfluous humidities Fourthly Add again the fifth part of the animated Spirit to his own Earth digest it and by Distillation evacuate the humidity Fifthly Render the fourth part of the Soul of the Body and digest it and draw out the moisture as I have shewn before and so with the fourth part of it upon the same Earth prosecute the operation by Unvivistives Digestion and Distillations till the Earth have drunk up all his animated Spirit and both be reduced to an Homogeneal Body then take the Earth which is withheld and white and put it in a Vessel of Glass divided into three parts which being luted and carefully shut must be put in a Furnace to the fire of the third degree the space or a natural day and so the pure part of it will be separated from the impure and will be lifted up on high and the impure part of the Body be left in the bottom as unprofitable to be cast away and the pure to be gathered and this is called by Raymund and other Philosophers Mercury sublimate vegetable Sal Armoniack and set of Lunary vegetable wherein are so many and so great vertues that the humane tongue of man cannot express them Furthermore All things being severally prepared to wit the Spirit and the Earth it remaineth here to shew the way to copulate the Spirit of Lunary with the Earth of the same prepared that is with the Salt or Sulphur of Nature vegetable but out of the conjunction of these two one organical Body to wit the vegetable menstruum may be made up and the way to make it is this Take one pound of the Salt or vegetable Sulphur new prepared bray it very small and put it in a Cucurbite of Glass which is strong and thick and upon it of the foresaid Spirit of Philosophical Lunary then shutting the Glass most carefully with a blue Head so that it hath no Air at all put it in the Balneo and let it purifie for the space two dayes then taking off the blind Head and putting on a Limbeck and joyning a great Recipient to it After you have stopped well all the Joynts you shall distil it in the Ashes with a gentle heat and all will go out by the Limbeck Nevertheless if any of the Salt should remain in the bottom you shall again pour of Spirit newly distilled upon it and distil it again from hence And this shall you do so oft till the whole Earth as a cleer Water be brought over the Limbeck being done take yet one pound of Salt put it into the Cucurbite and pour upon it the same Spirit lastly distilled cover the Vessel with a blind Head and set it to purifie and being purified till all the Sulphur pass over the Limbeck with the Spirit and that being distilled take again as before of new Salt vegetable one pound and adding the same Spirit purifie and then distil all Fourthly Take likewise fresh Salt one pound and pour upon it the Spirit lately distilled till all pass by the Limbeck and nothing remain in the Cucurbite and so the vegetable menstruum shall be made and perfectly ended having power to dissolve both the lights and all other Metals with the conservation of the vegetable form but now it is resting to shew how the menstruum must be converted unto a celestial Nature or Quintessence and the way is thus Take the simple menstruum and pour it into a great and strong Glass-Vessel that the fifth part of it onely be full or at the most the fourth and the rest be void then shut the Vessel with a blind Head shutting diligently all the Joynts lest the power of the menstruum vanish being shut put it in the Physical Bath or in the Horse-Belly and let it circulate a whole Month which time expired put on your menstruum into another clean Vessel and do this warily lest the setling in the bottom by the Circulation be poured out together with the menstruum but it must be left in the Circulation so shall you have the menstruum purified circulated and celestial which the Philosophers call The Heaven The Crown of Heaven and The Quintessence whose brightness and transparencie doth exceed the brightness of all Lunary things and the sweet smell of it exceedeth all other sweet savours prepared by Nature This Quintessence is the ground-work of all Spagyrical and Physical Preparation for by the vertue of it all solid Bodies are corrupted from their own Natures and are brought to Liquors Oyls Spirits Elixirs Magisteries Stones and Tinctures Whence it cometh That the Spagyrick can give to the Phisitians the best Medicines Of the manner of dissolving Gold and of separating the Tincture of it from the Body or the form from the matter and also of exuberating or multiplying the same THe manner of composing the vegetable being delivered and also of making it celestial it remaineth that you should be shewed how the matter of the Universal Medicine to wit Gold should be prepared with the heavenly menstrual that it may exercise its vertue upon the Body of Man the manner to prepare it is this Let Gold be cemented with Antimony that every Heterogeneal thing be separated from it then being well purged reduce it to very small Leaves then of the foliated or Leaf-Gold take an ounce and put it into a little Cucurbite of Glass and pour upon it two ounces of the heavenly menstruum or of the vegetable Quintessence This being done put the Cucurbite closed Hermetically into a Fire of the first degree and then of the second so shall the Gold be dissolved
and the menstruum shall draw into it self the Tincture of it or the colour and it will become citrine bright resplendent shining and most acceptable to the sight then by little and little inclining the Vessel transfuse the menstruum into another clean Vessel of Glass but do this warily lest the Earth or Feces of Gold be not poured out together with the menstruum and Cucurbite then to the golden Earth which is setled pour again two ounces of the menstruum and shut the Glass with Hermes his Seal and set it first in a fire of the first degree and then of a second and when the menstruum shall have the colour of Gold ejaculate it into another Vessel of Glass yet so that the Earth be not mixed with the menstruum but may remain in the bottom and leaving the Feces of the Gold in the Vessel pour again two ounces of the menstruum upon it and shutting the Glass Hermetically set it in the heat of the first then of the second degree Then empty the golden menstruum into another Vessel taking heed lest the Feces go out with it together reiterate these operations so oft as before till you see the menstruum draws no more of the Tincture of Sol and that the body of it remain in the bottom white which will be done in seven times if you do all these things well Now when all the Tincture of Gold is prepared from his Body it is requisite that all the dissolutions be joyned together and be put in a fit Vessel then purifie And then lastly having put on a blind Head and having shut carefully all the Joynts set it in a Furnace and give it a heat in the second degree and exuberate from thence the most precious Liquor of Gold then you shall have the Tincture of Gold separated from the Body of it and made volatile joyned with the Heaven or vegetable Quintessence from which it must be separated by the way which I will shew you in the following Chapter The manner how to separate the Tincture of Gold from the Quintessence vegetable and the way to circulate the same that it may be converted into Quintessence or Celestial Nature and Spiritual and almost Incorruptible HItherto we have shewed you how to draw the Tincture from the Body of the Sun and how they exuberate it in a cleer and open speech Now we intend to shew how the same Tincture may be separated from the menstruum which is Celestial and by Circulation is converted into a Quintessence most fragrant and in strength most eminent and incorruptible as the Heavens To do this proceed thus Take a Stillatory of Glass and infuse into it the vegetable Menstruum which is circulated in which is the Soul of the Gold then add to it of the Element of Water in the same thing to wit of the Lunary of the Philosophers so much as is of the menstruum it self then put your Vessel in a Physical Furnace and putting an easie fire of the first degree to it distil from it the vegetable Quintessence and the Element of Water admixed to it so the Tincture of Gold shall remain in the bottom like Wax melted or like the fluid gum and in colour most like unto a Ruby To purifie this Tincture from the superfluity of the Elements and to make it to a Quintessence by Circulation proceed thus Take a fit Vessel of Glass and put in it the Tincture of the Sun most red exulerated and separated from the vegetable Water and pour upon it a convenient quantity of the vegetable Quintessence and having shut the Glass Hermetically put the Vessel in a Physical Vaporary and with continual heat as of the Sun suffer it to be circulated a sufficient space which done you shall see in the bottom of the Glass an Earth like unto Slime which must most be separated from the Tincture mixed with the vegetable as a superfluous thing which is done by the Distillation of the menstruum with the Tincture in the fire of the second degree which being done put the Vessel containing the Quintessence vegetable mixed with the Tincture in the Physical Bath and putting to it the fire of the first degree by Distillation extract the vegetable Quintessence and so the Tincture of Gold most beautiful being purified from the Dregs of the Elements and Slime of the Earth and made spiritual and volatile shall be setled in the bottom of the Circulit converted into a Quintessence and into a Celestial and Incorruptible Nature to which no earthly thing may be compared in smell or sweet favour nor in vertue and excellent operations Keep the Quintessence most carefully as a most precious Treasure for it is the true potable and mutable Gold The true Elixir of the Sun Power The true Diaphoretical and Universal Medicine The true Mercury of the Philosophers without which there is no Transmutation of Metals The way to reduce the liquid and volatile Quintessence of Gold into a fixed Stone and transparent like to a Rubie with the multiplication of Celestial Vertues ALthough I have hitherto delivered the true and perfect way to prepare Sol and to convert it into a Quintessence so that it serveth for all Medicinal effects universally and needeth no further preparation Nevertheless because the vertues of it may be further augmented I will now reveal how it may be fixed into a Stone which by a manifold Solution Coagulation by heavenly Influences doth attain unto the highest degree Perfection and efficacy to all effects both within and without the body of man The way to make it is thus Prepare a Fixatory Vessel of equal bigness with their heads having heads equally proportionable whose heads must be disposed that the head of each one may enter into the belly of each other mutually and that the mouth of the one Vessel may enter into its own head but that the mouth of the other may receive within it self the mouth of its own head then put in each Vessel one part of the Quintessence of Gold and to each part severally pour thirteen parts of the Quintessence vegetable which being done put the heads upon the Cucurbites and joyn the Vessels together as they ought to be and shutting the Joynts most carefully that there an Anchanor and having given a most temperate heat of the other or second degree let the Quintessence be so long moved till the vegetable Water hath laid off the Tincture or Colour of Gold and shall have ascended and descended no more citrine in colour but white like a distilled Water which will be done in three or four weeks at the most which time being past and when you have seen the aforesaid sign then suffer the Furnace to wax cool of it self then taking the Vessel from the Furnace open them and in the bottom of each Glass you shall finde a Stone like unto a Rubie or Carbuncle which is the potable Gold congeal'd through the vegetable vertue and the purest of the vegetable Sulphur working upon the Quintessence of Gold from which Stone by the Inclination of the Vessels you shall separate the vegetable Waters then take out both the Stones out of both the Vessels without any moisture and you shall put it into a fit Vessel very carefully that it suffer no harm by the Air and when you would have this Stone to become more pregnant and powerful in operation by Celestial Vertues proceed thus Bray it in a Marble or Glass-Morter with a Glass-Pestel and being brayed put it into a small Glass-Vessel 〈◊〉 to that effect and being Hermetically shut put it into the Physical Bath and leave it there three dayes in which time it will turn into a Water or Liquor very red which Liquor put into the Achanor and suffer it to be digested five dayes in a temperate heat and then again it will be conduced and become a stony substance red and transparent from thence take out again the Stone and bray it to a powder and then again put it into a Physical Bath the space of one natural day and then again it will be dissolved into a most red Liquor which again put into the Achanor to be digested the space of two dayes which time past you shall finde again a Stone most transparent and like to a Ruby which may be melted upon a red hot Plate of Iron and will send forth no smoak at all Now this same so prepared hath so many Vertues that no tongue of man is able to express them FINIS